Shocked Mom Asks Why Her Black Son Was Put On Front Line During Shooting Drills, Doesn’t Expect This Response

In the wake of the mass school shooting in Parkland, Florida, parents are having tough conversations with their children about how to prepare for the unthinkable. One of them, Tanai Bernard, a teacher from Texas, had an exchange with her son Dezmond, asking him about safety drills in his school. The single mom wanted to make sure that her 10-year-old boy was taking them seriously and wasn’t using them “as a time to socialize and goof off.” His, answer, however, shocked Tanai so much, she just had to share it on Facebook. Scroll down to read Dezmond’s words that have accumulated over 310K reactions and 150K shares, and let us know what you think about them in the comments!

What do you think ?

It's so sad, disturbing and disgusting that children growing up in what is considered one of the most advanced and important countries in the world have to be trained on how to react in the even of mass school shootings. Things have gotten out of hand when the fear and the possibility of it happening are so real that teachers must prepare their students. When I was little and growing up in Southern California, we had fire drills and earthquake drills, but drilling for the (ever more likely) chance of having a psycopath break in and gun children down? Chilling.

Unfortunately, it's been happening for awhile. In the late 70's, a shooting occurred at Murchison in Austin, Texas. A student killed a teacher, and I believe kept an entire classroom hostage. But, shootings are far more widespread now. So very sad

You are absolutely right, Katinka. I have many, many friends in other countries that don't understand our idea that we are the best of everything. They look at us as arrogant and purposely ignorant. Americans are taught that we are exceptional and we actually believe it until we go travel to other countries. They are proud to learn several languages and to have social programs that help all their citizens. All of them value a good education and the government makes sure those opportunities are there without crippling debt afterwards.They don't even think about if they are or are not the "greatest country on the earth". It's time Americans woke up and joined in with the rest of humanity to make the world a better place. The most glaring difference is our treatment of guns. We idolize the gun and lust over the power it gives us. No wonder we are the gun death capital of the world. We never should have gotten to the point of shooter drills.

Again to Thomas O'Keefe:
The thing is - it's all a bubble. Unless you are wealthy or have a very good contract for a job, you will have to struggle and fight and if you are not white-skinned, you'll have to fight a bit harder even. If you are from a "shithole-country", you will get a chance -but current climate would also make you grow a thick skin.
The president asked why nobody from Norway would want to immigrate to the US, why always the poor countries. Though I'm sure some Norwegians would love to go, the majority is very fine in their own country. Wonder why that is...
I am in awe of a lot of things the American people managed to do in history by sheer will and stubbornness and smarts. I am also appalled by a lot of things they managed to do because of the same traits. I'm not sure what to think, but I'm sure sad about the way the US is digging its own grave right now. (thinking the same of my own country, but I can at least do something here!)

@Thomas O'Keefe: The USA are a very interesting and scintillating place of dreams. It's been a land of endless opportunity for a long time, and I'm sure there are still very many good opportunities for education and research. Yes, the USA are fascinating. A large part of that is due to the good press they have - be it movies or series or maybe even history. What a lot of people don't know or maybe overlook and sometimes have to learn the very hard way is that it's not perfect, that you may have a lot of opportunities but if you fall, you fall hard. Very hard. Maybe the fallen still live better than in their original country, but for a person from Europe, it's pretty unbelievable that breaking your arm could lead to you losing your job and everything you own because there is not a lot of social security.
So yes, a lot of people would like to go to the USA.
The poor, the hopeful, the curious and some who would love to see its incredible beauty. (tbc)

You're wrong, Katinka. The United States remains the top choice among the people of ALL nations as the place to which they hope to immigrate. The innovations of this country in medicine, software, and all manufacturing continue to lead the world beyond that of any other nation. There are many great nations in the world. But none even remotely compare to the U.S,

That's awful. As much as I feel sorry for the children having to be taught what to do if a shooter enters the school, this is ever worse. If the scenario dictates you need to be prepared then the teacher should actively be preparing the children. I hope the teacher realises their duty to their class sooner rather than later.

While your son's selflessness is beautiful and commendable, the fact that kids in the US even have to do such drills is so tragic. The U.K. is faaaar from perfect, but there's some things we have got right: And not giving everyone a constitutional right to bear firearms is one of them.

Technically, (as I understand it), the Americans don't have that constitutional right, either. What they have is the right to form and arm a local militia (and not even specifically guns). Somehow through public misunderstanding and continual support of that notion through precedence in courts, it has morphed into being nearly the same thing.

Parmeisan, you're wrong it's pretty clear, "the right of the people to bear arms shall not be infringed". I'm not making a statement of support, just relaying the facts. That gets a lot of down-votes but in my experience being right isn't the same as being popular.

No, it's saying BECAUSE a militia is necessary for a free state, the right of the PEOPLE to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. Part one about the militia is the justification for why part two , the right of the people, should never be infringed. If you start taking away the right of the people to keep and bear arms, they won't have the tools necessary to form a militia and defend their states when and if necessary.
Specifically, government run military and militia is spoken of in another part of the Constitution so there is not doubt about the meaning.

Parmeisan you would technically be wrong. If you read the other writings and letters of the people that actually wrote the founding documents and created these "Rights" you would understand clearly that they wanted an armed populace to prevent any government even our own from violating the rest of the rights. The second amendment was a direct response to what the crown tried to do to the colonies.

When people make this argument, to appear smarter, they show that they do not understand what the definition of the militia was. The Militia Act of 1792 considered every free able bodied white male between 18-45 to automatically be a member of the militia, which was those considered citizens at that time. Since our definition of who is a citizen has expanded since then to include women and racial minorities, it would therefore be logical to conclude that even if we followed the milita reading it would still mean that every free and able bodied citizen between 18-45 would have the right. Which is also supported by reading the writings of the framers.
Also, concerning the UK, the US 2nd Amendment is directly descended from the English Bill of Rights of 1689 and English Common Law, the difference is that we decided to have a written constitution whereas the UK has an unwritten one that is much easier to change as the Government sees fit.

Agreed. If there was a semicolon after "free State," then it would include militia and separately individuals, but that's not the case. It's "a militia of the people to have the right to bear arms." Unfortunately, it'll be a debate forever... no one budges on this. Honestly, this whole thing is over a damn semicolon.

That's true. Take away one thing a crazy person will find another. However the damage that can be done with minimal effort is pretty obvious here. The only thing preventing it would be price and a since of conscious. None of which seem to be hard to overcome.

The only ones covered under the 2nd Amendment are the Law Abiding Citizens of this Country. Everyone has the right to bear arms until proven otherwise. You do not given a Constitutional right to someone, they are born with that right. Sounds like you want to play God. Clean up your own house before attacking mine!!!

Instead, you let in muslims who do fun things like throw acid, run people down, knife attacks, and chop heads off! And the best part, you have no way to protect yourself from them!
https://www.thedailybeast.com/two-men-convicted-of-british-soldier-beheading

Jewish girl here speaking... Yes, yes they still would have killed my ancestors. And I'm so damn sick of this comparison. Just because you had two classes on world history, you think you're able to really propose this nonsense? You don't know shit!

There is something fundamentally F-ed up in the mentality of the average american! Sorry but if this an example of 'the greatest country' in the world I can't imagine the worst. Such drills were typical for countries that are actively involved in military action on their soil. To put a black paper over the window, to cover it.... What?! This really sounds like they are expecting this to happen every day. What about gun control and not sell M16 to everyone? The rest of the world is doing just fine without the "constitutional rights" or "patriotic thoughts" (laughable things in this context) being violated.. ;)

It's effed up for sure. As an American kid, it's ridiculous I have to worry about this stuff. I'm going into highschool next year, and this stuff is honestly insane. It stinks we have to prepare for this, but with an unstable president (to say the very least), and no immediate action being taken, it seems like it's probably the best thing to do. It's horrible we've had SO many shootings this year, it's unexceptable. The amendment people are using as evidence to prevent gun control laws is outdated and was made in a very different time. It allows Americans to have "a well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State" which is also the "right to bear arms". Its outdated doesn't exactly apply to today. Our president is more interested in the financial benefits than the lives of kids like me, and it's scary. I feel like we've been desensitised to these things, because in any other first world country, one incident like Columbine or Sandy Hook or Parkland would be

enough for immediate action. But I have confidence that my generation will be the one to change things for the better. I have lots of opinions on this, but I'll spare you on them for now :) I think the best thing I can do at this point is support others, spread love, and stand up for what I believe in, because this is going to change.

There have been shootings under the past Presidents as well,so while I'm not a fan, these aren't political in nature. These are children with mental illnesses. Our health care system needs to change in how it treats mental illness and the laws that prohibit them from reporting people with mental health issues need to change as well.

Ok, first of all the M16 is not sold to everyone and the AR-15 is not an "assault rifle." The AR is an acronym for ArmaLite. SMH. Our "Constitutional Rights" is to protect our Country from tyrannical government!

Oh? So you could grab your Arma-Lite and go shoot the President if he became tyrannical? Would you (not you-specifically but you-the-people) even recognize a tyrant once he's been elected into office? Turkey is an interesting example here - Erdogan was elected and is in many places still placed in highest regard. From outside, Turkey is already ruled by a tyrant - from the inside, everyone who suggests so is imprisoned for treason.

The average gun owning american definitely does not own an M16 haha fully auto weapons were banned by democrats a number of years ago in an effort to decrease violent crimes (which obviously didn't work).

We also didn't have "gun free zones" advertised before 2000 or so. I graduated in 1995 and some of my friends were hunters and still carried their rifles to school after hunting early in the morning (this was South Florida by the way, near Coral Springs where the last shooting just occurred). Guns are not the problem. Advertising areas where there will be no one with a gun and there will be easy targets with mass fatalities IS the problem. GUN CONTROL ONLY AFFECTS LAW ABIDING CITIZENS!!!

And yet in countries around the world that have gun free schools this is not a problem, the last uk mass school shooting I can think of was Dunblaine in 1996 in which we changed laws to make it harder to attain a gun, as such 10yo kids are not thinking about becoming a martyr to save their friends.

You should probably check out some statistics on that claim. Countries with gun control have far fewer - FAR fewer - shooting deaths per capita per year than countries without. Keep in mind, gun control doesn't mean you can't have or use a gun. It just means you have to show you're competent and then the fact you have it is logged into the system. It makes it harder for would-be criminals to acquire firearms, and even harder to commit a crime with one without being found. So, it's kinda the opposite. Gun control only affects people who don't intend to abide by the law.

September 11, 2001 was a horribly tragic, MILITARY ACTION on our soil. Call it what you will ANY TIME someone decides to harm one of our most precious treasured citizens that is an act of WAR. I will not get into a gun debate on here but I will say that psychopaths use all manner of weapons, and their rage is not limited to the US.

It's so sad, disturbing and disgusting that children growing up in what is considered one of the most advanced and important countries in the world have to be trained on how to react in the even of mass school shootings. Things have gotten out of hand when the fear and the possibility of it happening are so real that teachers must prepare their students. When I was little and growing up in Southern California, we had fire drills and earthquake drills, but drilling for the (ever more likely) chance of having a psycopath break in and gun children down? Chilling.

Unfortunately, it's been happening for awhile. In the late 70's, a shooting occurred at Murchison in Austin, Texas. A student killed a teacher, and I believe kept an entire classroom hostage. But, shootings are far more widespread now. So very sad

You are absolutely right, Katinka. I have many, many friends in other countries that don't understand our idea that we are the best of everything. They look at us as arrogant and purposely ignorant. Americans are taught that we are exceptional and we actually believe it until we go travel to other countries. They are proud to learn several languages and to have social programs that help all their citizens. All of them value a good education and the government makes sure those opportunities are there without crippling debt afterwards.They don't even think about if they are or are not the "greatest country on the earth". It's time Americans woke up and joined in with the rest of humanity to make the world a better place. The most glaring difference is our treatment of guns. We idolize the gun and lust over the power it gives us. No wonder we are the gun death capital of the world. We never should have gotten to the point of shooter drills.

Again to Thomas O'Keefe:
The thing is - it's all a bubble. Unless you are wealthy or have a very good contract for a job, you will have to struggle and fight and if you are not white-skinned, you'll have to fight a bit harder even. If you are from a "shithole-country", you will get a chance -but current climate would also make you grow a thick skin.
The president asked why nobody from Norway would want to immigrate to the US, why always the poor countries. Though I'm sure some Norwegians would love to go, the majority is very fine in their own country. Wonder why that is...
I am in awe of a lot of things the American people managed to do in history by sheer will and stubbornness and smarts. I am also appalled by a lot of things they managed to do because of the same traits. I'm not sure what to think, but I'm sure sad about the way the US is digging its own grave right now. (thinking the same of my own country, but I can at least do something here!)

@Thomas O'Keefe: The USA are a very interesting and scintillating place of dreams. It's been a land of endless opportunity for a long time, and I'm sure there are still very many good opportunities for education and research. Yes, the USA are fascinating. A large part of that is due to the good press they have - be it movies or series or maybe even history. What a lot of people don't know or maybe overlook and sometimes have to learn the very hard way is that it's not perfect, that you may have a lot of opportunities but if you fall, you fall hard. Very hard. Maybe the fallen still live better than in their original country, but for a person from Europe, it's pretty unbelievable that breaking your arm could lead to you losing your job and everything you own because there is not a lot of social security.
So yes, a lot of people would like to go to the USA.
The poor, the hopeful, the curious and some who would love to see its incredible beauty. (tbc)

You're wrong, Katinka. The United States remains the top choice among the people of ALL nations as the place to which they hope to immigrate. The innovations of this country in medicine, software, and all manufacturing continue to lead the world beyond that of any other nation. There are many great nations in the world. But none even remotely compare to the U.S,

That's awful. As much as I feel sorry for the children having to be taught what to do if a shooter enters the school, this is ever worse. If the scenario dictates you need to be prepared then the teacher should actively be preparing the children. I hope the teacher realises their duty to their class sooner rather than later.

While your son's selflessness is beautiful and commendable, the fact that kids in the US even have to do such drills is so tragic. The U.K. is faaaar from perfect, but there's some things we have got right: And not giving everyone a constitutional right to bear firearms is one of them.

Technically, (as I understand it), the Americans don't have that constitutional right, either. What they have is the right to form and arm a local militia (and not even specifically guns). Somehow through public misunderstanding and continual support of that notion through precedence in courts, it has morphed into being nearly the same thing.

Parmeisan, you're wrong it's pretty clear, "the right of the people to bear arms shall not be infringed". I'm not making a statement of support, just relaying the facts. That gets a lot of down-votes but in my experience being right isn't the same as being popular.

No, it's saying BECAUSE a militia is necessary for a free state, the right of the PEOPLE to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. Part one about the militia is the justification for why part two , the right of the people, should never be infringed. If you start taking away the right of the people to keep and bear arms, they won't have the tools necessary to form a militia and defend their states when and if necessary.
Specifically, government run military and militia is spoken of in another part of the Constitution so there is not doubt about the meaning.

Parmeisan you would technically be wrong. If you read the other writings and letters of the people that actually wrote the founding documents and created these "Rights" you would understand clearly that they wanted an armed populace to prevent any government even our own from violating the rest of the rights. The second amendment was a direct response to what the crown tried to do to the colonies.

When people make this argument, to appear smarter, they show that they do not understand what the definition of the militia was. The Militia Act of 1792 considered every free able bodied white male between 18-45 to automatically be a member of the militia, which was those considered citizens at that time. Since our definition of who is a citizen has expanded since then to include women and racial minorities, it would therefore be logical to conclude that even if we followed the milita reading it would still mean that every free and able bodied citizen between 18-45 would have the right. Which is also supported by reading the writings of the framers.
Also, concerning the UK, the US 2nd Amendment is directly descended from the English Bill of Rights of 1689 and English Common Law, the difference is that we decided to have a written constitution whereas the UK has an unwritten one that is much easier to change as the Government sees fit.

Agreed. If there was a semicolon after "free State," then it would include militia and separately individuals, but that's not the case. It's "a militia of the people to have the right to bear arms." Unfortunately, it'll be a debate forever... no one budges on this. Honestly, this whole thing is over a damn semicolon.

That's true. Take away one thing a crazy person will find another. However the damage that can be done with minimal effort is pretty obvious here. The only thing preventing it would be price and a since of conscious. None of which seem to be hard to overcome.

The only ones covered under the 2nd Amendment are the Law Abiding Citizens of this Country. Everyone has the right to bear arms until proven otherwise. You do not given a Constitutional right to someone, they are born with that right. Sounds like you want to play God. Clean up your own house before attacking mine!!!

Instead, you let in muslims who do fun things like throw acid, run people down, knife attacks, and chop heads off! And the best part, you have no way to protect yourself from them!
https://www.thedailybeast.com/two-men-convicted-of-british-soldier-beheading

Jewish girl here speaking... Yes, yes they still would have killed my ancestors. And I'm so damn sick of this comparison. Just because you had two classes on world history, you think you're able to really propose this nonsense? You don't know shit!

There is something fundamentally F-ed up in the mentality of the average american! Sorry but if this an example of 'the greatest country' in the world I can't imagine the worst. Such drills were typical for countries that are actively involved in military action on their soil. To put a black paper over the window, to cover it.... What?! This really sounds like they are expecting this to happen every day. What about gun control and not sell M16 to everyone? The rest of the world is doing just fine without the "constitutional rights" or "patriotic thoughts" (laughable things in this context) being violated.. ;)

It's effed up for sure. As an American kid, it's ridiculous I have to worry about this stuff. I'm going into highschool next year, and this stuff is honestly insane. It stinks we have to prepare for this, but with an unstable president (to say the very least), and no immediate action being taken, it seems like it's probably the best thing to do. It's horrible we've had SO many shootings this year, it's unexceptable. The amendment people are using as evidence to prevent gun control laws is outdated and was made in a very different time. It allows Americans to have "a well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State" which is also the "right to bear arms". Its outdated doesn't exactly apply to today. Our president is more interested in the financial benefits than the lives of kids like me, and it's scary. I feel like we've been desensitised to these things, because in any other first world country, one incident like Columbine or Sandy Hook or Parkland would be

enough for immediate action. But I have confidence that my generation will be the one to change things for the better. I have lots of opinions on this, but I'll spare you on them for now :) I think the best thing I can do at this point is support others, spread love, and stand up for what I believe in, because this is going to change.

There have been shootings under the past Presidents as well,so while I'm not a fan, these aren't political in nature. These are children with mental illnesses. Our health care system needs to change in how it treats mental illness and the laws that prohibit them from reporting people with mental health issues need to change as well.

Ok, first of all the M16 is not sold to everyone and the AR-15 is not an "assault rifle." The AR is an acronym for ArmaLite. SMH. Our "Constitutional Rights" is to protect our Country from tyrannical government!

Oh? So you could grab your Arma-Lite and go shoot the President if he became tyrannical? Would you (not you-specifically but you-the-people) even recognize a tyrant once he's been elected into office? Turkey is an interesting example here - Erdogan was elected and is in many places still placed in highest regard. From outside, Turkey is already ruled by a tyrant - from the inside, everyone who suggests so is imprisoned for treason.

The average gun owning american definitely does not own an M16 haha fully auto weapons were banned by democrats a number of years ago in an effort to decrease violent crimes (which obviously didn't work).

We also didn't have "gun free zones" advertised before 2000 or so. I graduated in 1995 and some of my friends were hunters and still carried their rifles to school after hunting early in the morning (this was South Florida by the way, near Coral Springs where the last shooting just occurred). Guns are not the problem. Advertising areas where there will be no one with a gun and there will be easy targets with mass fatalities IS the problem. GUN CONTROL ONLY AFFECTS LAW ABIDING CITIZENS!!!

And yet in countries around the world that have gun free schools this is not a problem, the last uk mass school shooting I can think of was Dunblaine in 1996 in which we changed laws to make it harder to attain a gun, as such 10yo kids are not thinking about becoming a martyr to save their friends.

You should probably check out some statistics on that claim. Countries with gun control have far fewer - FAR fewer - shooting deaths per capita per year than countries without. Keep in mind, gun control doesn't mean you can't have or use a gun. It just means you have to show you're competent and then the fact you have it is logged into the system. It makes it harder for would-be criminals to acquire firearms, and even harder to commit a crime with one without being found. So, it's kinda the opposite. Gun control only affects people who don't intend to abide by the law.

September 11, 2001 was a horribly tragic, MILITARY ACTION on our soil. Call it what you will ANY TIME someone decides to harm one of our most precious treasured citizens that is an act of WAR. I will not get into a gun debate on here but I will say that psychopaths use all manner of weapons, and their rage is not limited to the US.